Our Next Steps Commuity is Moving Out

Let’s just start with clarifying that ministry is messy! Can I get an AMEN???? Programs are neat and clean but ministry is messy.  We are convinced that after a woman makes a life decision she doesn't need just another program; rather, she needs relationships in a community who ministers to her daily.

Over the past 4+ years we have been calling our supporters and pastors to take an active role in the lives of mothers and fathers in after their life decision and they have responded!  We have 150+ small groups and families who have expressed a desire to connect directly to our families in need.

We are grateful for the groundswell of the Body of Christ wanting to show HIM to them...but First Choice can’t manage all of their ministry training, connecting to mothers and fathers in need, AND, coaching them long term as they encounter “ministry challenges” in the relationships they develop with the families in need.

For the Next Steps Community to flourish it must be “owned” by the Church where “messy ministry” can take place daily in a more flexible legal structure than what First Choice can provide as a medical clinic. First Choice will be gathering key players in helping set up the new structure and in various forms of ongoing support and participation in the program.

Once this program moves to it’s new “legal home” it will take on all the parenting and life skills classes and people-to-people connections beyond the initial services that First Choice provides.  First Choice will diligently seek to intercept the abortion-risk woman, secure her life decision, and stabilize her situation and then transition her into the Next Steps Community where she will get the one-to-one and “small group” support that she needs to flourish.

So where are we now with this transition?

First, you must understand that First Choice is going to continue to care for our mothers and fathers in need until this organizational transition is complete so NO family will go without the support they need.  We expect the transition to take most of 2014 to become complete.

Over the past few months we have taken big steps forward:

On September 21st, First Choice and North Raleigh Summit Church hosted its first training for lay leaders, client advocates and medical personnel which was well attended. That meeting raised up the leadership team for the Next Steps Community.  On October 21st, these leaders came together and have begun to make their plans --identifying roles, legal structures, potential churches, training and class locations, and software programs.

What about your church?  

If you would like your church to participate in the Next Steps Community please help us set up an appointment with your pastors. Churches participate in three primary ways:
1) They encourage their members to get trained in the Next Steps Community and to connect with mothers and fathers in need.
2) They work to create a church culture that is inviting to the mothers and fathers in need.
3)  Next Steps will be supported by churches who are using the services to train and mobilize their members AND organizations like First Choice who are sending clients to them for long term care.

If you want your church to be part of the Next Steps Community, please contact Amber@FirstChoiceNC.org or call her 919-740-5891.